Sword Art Online II: The Ghost in the System
by Karl the Artillery Piece
Summary: After Sword Art Online was cleared, Kayaba's brain was fried, but his consciousness remained in the system. Why couldn't anyone else's? Meanwhile, Sinon has just gotten back to playing Gun Gale Online, but there is a new and OP player in town. Is there a connection between these seemingly unrelated occurrences? So grab your Amusphere, lay on your bed, and yell LINK START!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

White. That was all that the boy saw. Then his surroundings darkened, revealing line after line of computer code. The boy looked through the codes. As he did so, previews of the codes of each game he was viewing appeared.

"World of Tanks… nah," the boy said. He continued looking through the list. World of Warships, War Thunder, Gundam Online ("Maybe later," said the boy.), Alfheim Online, Fire Emblem Online, and so on and so forth. His eyes landed on a particular game, Sword Art Online. He gritted his teeth at the name and carried on. His eyes eventually landed on a game that was fairly popular at the time. He smiled. The title of the game was Gun Gale Online, a game that recently re-patched itself allowing tank driving. He clicked on the game, and his surroundings went white again.

* * *

Sino Asada was walking home from school, humming rather cheerfully. She had very good reason to be cheerful. Today was her birthday, and the start of summer break. She opened the door to her room, dropped off her school stuff, put on some casual clothes, and headed back out the door. She soon arrived at the Dicey Café. She looked at her phone. 5:30 pm. Sino took a deep breath and opened the door. She jumped a little at the large amount of bangs she was greeted with. Over the bar counter, there was a banner that said お誕生日おめでとう (Happy Birthday in Japanese). Everyone was clapping.

"Thanks guys," she said. She walked over to the counter and ordered a glass of ginger ale. Everyone else carried on what they were doing, a few stragglers hiding presents before Sino noticed. Then a figure walked over to Sino.

"Sinon," said the figure. Sino turned around. Standing next to her was Kazuto Kirigaya, the boy that saved her life about a few months ago. Standing next to him was Asuna Yuuki, Kazuto's girlfriend. Sino blinked a little before answering.

"Hi, Kirito. Thanks for the party," said Sino aka Sinon.

"You're welcome," said Kazuto aka Kirito. "It wasn't too hard, considering we're usually the only customers that come here."

"Hey!" said the bartender Andrew aka Egil. "I have more customers other than you! It's just that you guys come here more often."

Asuna and Sino laughed. Then Sino remembered something.

"Hey, Kirito-kun," began Sino.

"Hmm? *gulp*gulp* what's up, Sinon?" asked Kazuto as he sipped his ginger ale.

Sino stumbled for words for a moment, and then said, "I want to go back to GGO."

Kazuto coughed a little (sorry, a lot) and looked at Sino wide eyed.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "But..."

"Hey Sino-chan!" Asuna butted in, clearly not wanting her boyfriend being focused on another girl. "Look what I got for you!" She pulled out a book. Sino took the book. It was an album with pictures of everyone in real life, screen shots of everyone in Alfheim, all the happy moments that had happened. Sino smiled.

"Thanks Asuna. It's beautiful."

"I know right?" said Kazuto. "Almost anything makes is beautiful."

Asuna blushed. Sino chuckled. Then she checked her phone. Well, what a surprise. 6:30 pm. "Did you guys check the time?" asked Sino. Andrew looked at the clock and said, "Aw man! It'll take an hour to clean up this mess, and I need to open up for dinner!"

"Um," said Kazuto. "Should we leave?" Everyone got up. Asuna looked out the window.

"I think we should, Kirito-kun. There's a crowd waiting for the café to open."

With that, everyone waved goodbye to each other and left. As Sino walked home, she was a little nervous. The last time she played GGO, or Gun Gale Online, her life was being threatened. Kazuto (Kirito) saved her from the mess. (For more information, read SAO volumes 5 &amp; 6 or watch SAO II). When she got home, she changed into her pajamas, jumped into her bed, and put on her Amusphere. And then, with a strong and determined voice, she said, "Link Start!"

* * *

Author's note: Hello ladies, gentlemen, and others! Welcome to my third fanfic! I'm happy that I got this idea into words. I will warn you, the beginning might be a little slow, but the main part should be fun ;) Wish me luck guys! Now time to play some World of Tanks *looks for Amusphere* Oh no, where did my Amusphere go? *Finds nervegear on table* Meh. better than nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Sinon spawned in the middle of town. She looked around and stretched. It's good to back, she thought. She opened her menu and smiled as she looked through her items. All her items since the last Bullet of Bullets were still there. Her prized weapon, a Hecate II anti-material rifle, was still there as well. As she looked through the menu, she found a few new quests available. They were the following: Random Battles, Team Battles, Campaign Mode, Clan Wars ("Interesting," said Sinon), and Tank Quests. Sinon blinked when she saw the last quest. There was also an announcement that said that tanks could also be used in the next Bullet of Bullets competition. Sinon wondered if her Hecate would be able to penetrate the armor of any tanks that may be used, but she put off the thought for now. For now, she thought, let's do some quests.

"Welcome," said the game. "Please choose your username." A virtual keyboard appeared in front of the boy. He paused. Now, he thought, what username should I use…? "Maybe this is a good time to use my World of Tanks username," the boy thought out loud. He reached to the virtual keyboard and typed in "10thPanzerdivision." He smiled. The time period when the world only knew him as the 10thPanzerdivision, or 10th for short, was really fun. It was carefree and all. He lived a happy life with his parents and his sister. His grades were good. He had many friends. The world was a happy place. Then IT happened. 10th shook his head. It didn't matter. As soon as he uses this name again, everything will be happy again. And with that, he entered Gun Gale Online.

Sinon found some of the new game modes rather entertaining. Most of the tanks that appeared in the game were from World War II, but they were rather iconic. And with the majority of the GGO community lacking any sort of anti-armor knowledge, it soon became clear that most quests that had tanks in them could not be soloed. Sinon, however, decided to ignore some of these facts and went to solo a pure anti-tank level by herself. The first "mobs" she encountered were BT-7 light tanks. Her Hecate was able to tear through the enemy's' armor with relative ease. The next enemies were Panzer IIs. These required Sinon to load Armor Piercing rounds into here Hecate. But alas, the Panzer IIs were also quickly dispatched. Sinon stood in front of the steel gate that led to the final boss room. She took a deep breath and opened the door. Boss music played in the background as the Boss and its minions spawned. A Matilda II, four Valentine IIs, five Panzer IIIs, and multiple Panzer IIs and BT-7s rolled toward Sinon. She immediately leaped into action. Using her better maneuverability, she quickly dispatched the Panzer IIs and BT-7s before moving on to the next minions. She instantly got around the back of the Matilda and smiled.

"Sucks to be you," she said, before firing the last shot in her Hecate's magazine into the Matilda. There was one problem. The Hecate fires a 12.7mm (about) caliber bullet. The rear hull of a Matilda has 55mm of armor. The bullet obviously bounced. This is when Sinon began to panic. She calmed down a bit and emptied another magazine into a nearby Panzer III. Of course, these rounds bounced, too. The Panzer III fired its 57mm gun at Sinon. The shell missed, but it landed close enough to send Sinon flying. Her HUD showed that her HP was now red, about 15%. She looked up. The tanks were heading towards her. Were they going to run her over? She closed her eyes. "I should have listened to everyone…" she thought aloud. Then, suddenly, a voice called to her. "GET DOWN!" it yelled. Sinon did as she was told. She heard lead punch through steel, and a rather grand explosion as the ammunition load of the Panzer III in front of her blew the turret off.

"AMMO RACK!"10th said to himself as he saw the Panzer III's turret get blown off. He then switched his aim to the next Panzer III. It was moving at full speed towards him. He moved his aim to the tank's tracks. He fired, and was rewarded with the tracks being blown off the Panzer III followed by it flipping over when hitting a rock. 10th blinked.

"Looks like they'll need to look at the physics engine," 10th said. He continued to put shot after shot into each Panzer III. He was rewarded by penetration after penetration and kill after kill. He smiled. After finishing the Panzer IIIs, he moved on to the Valentines. The frontal armor of the Valentine bounced most of his shots, so he went for the place with the thinnest armor: the turret roof. He ran at the Valentine, used its frontal hull as a ramp, jumped onto the turret, fired into the turret, and jumped off. He was awarded with another ammo rack. He carried on doing this with the other Valentines. When this was done, he was out of ammo. However, only the Matilda was left. The Matilda fired its coaxial machine gun at 10th but he evaded them easily. He then went behind the Matilda.

"You'll only bounce your shots!" said the blue haired sniper he saved earlier. 10th smiled as he reached into his backpack, pulled out a Panzerfaust, and shot it point blank into the rear of the Matilda. It went through and the Matilda's engine caught fire. Apparently, the nonexistent crew of the Matilda did not put a fire extinguisher on the tank. The fire spread to the turret, which ignited the ammunition load, causing an ammo rack to occur.

Sinon watched this in awe. Did this guy just solo these tanks? On top of that, he seemed like a new player, yet he had eyes of a veteran player who went through many games. She went through her menu to find a first aid kit to restore her HP. She facepalmed herself when she found she didn't have one. Then she felt a tap on her shoulder. It was the boy.

"Here," said the boy. He was holding a first aid kit. Sinon took it and used it. Her HP was restored to green.

"Thanks," she said, "for, um, saving my life."

The boy smiled at Sinon. He opened his menu and put away his equipment, leaving him in a uniform resembling an Imperial Japanese Uniform and two holsters, each with a M1911. There was a blue box-like section on the back of his belt, but it seemed insignificant.

"Any time," said the boy. He then began to walk out of the base.

"Wait!" called Sinon. The boy paused for a moment, and then turned around, a confused look on his face. "How should I repay the favor?" she asked. The boy smiled.

"You don't have to," said the boy. Sinon shook her head.

"At least come with me. It's almost lunch." The boy thought about this offer for a moment. Then he nodded.

As Sinon walked up to the boy she said, "I'm Sinon by the way. Nice to meet you."

The boy smiled. "I'm 10thPanzerdivision. The name's too long, so just call me 10th, Sinon."

* * *

Author's note: I just noticed something after posting this: SO MANY BIG PARAGRAPHS! Not that it matters.

10thPanzerdivision is, indeed, my World of Tanks/World of Warplanes/World of Warships username. Don't expect me to be playing these games these days, though. My WiFi sucks. Also, everyone did indeed call me 10th whenever I played. Maybe I added a little too much WoT references in the story, like when 10th yelled AMMO RACK!

On another note, there is a very good reason as to why this story is named as it is. When abbreviated, it would look like this: SAO II: GitS. Now, SAO II is obviously Sword Art Online II. GitS stands for The Ghost in the System. There is another meaning: GHOST IN THE SHELL. If you know what a Ghost is in Ghost in the Shell, you could kind of guess why I put a reference in the story. And with that, I leave you. Thank you for reading please review and comment and all that jazz, and have a great day or night. Now how do I get this Nervegear off...


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"So, um, I want to ask you something," began Sinon. They were in a café in the middle of the city. She was busy sipping her soda when she said this. "What was that rifle you were using? I've never seen it before."

10th took a sip of his iced tea before replying, "It's a Type 97 Anti-Tank Rifle, though thinking of it as a rifle would usually kill the user."

Sinon blinked. "Why is that?" she asked.

"Well," began 10th, "Although it's classified as a rifle, it required a team of four to move it around because it is so heavy. The massive recoil of the rifle is able to tear your arm off if you aren't careful. People who don't level up their stats would not be able to use the rifle as a rifle. It's best to use it as a light anti-tank gun, mainly because it fires 20mm armor piercing ammunition. Semi-Automatic too."

Sinon spit out her soda in surprise. "T-Twenty millimeters!?" she exclaimed. "AND it's semi auto!?" 10th casually sipped his iced tea again.

"Yup," he said. "It still won't punch through the front of a Valentine or a Matilda, though. You got to shoot through the roof." It was right about then when a light bulb went on in 10th's head.

"Hey Sinon," said 10th. "There's a store nearby here that sells really good anti-tank weapons for a rather low price. Want me to show you?"

Sinon blinked slightly before finally saying, "Sure." The two got out of their seats. 10th led Sinon to a rather secluded store on the other side of an alleyway. Sinon got slightly worried but she let it slide. 10th then opened the door.

"Hey old man!" 10th called, "You got a customer!" From behind the counter the face of an old man popped up.

"Oh hey 10th," said the man. "What about a customer?

"Sinon here needs some decent light AT weapons," 10th explained. "She's been having trouble getting through hull armor with her .50 cal. Rifle." The man raised his eyebrows.

"Sinon? As in the GGO champion?" he asked. 10th nodded. The man leaned in closer to 10th.

"You snagged a nice one," he said with a mischievous smile.

"Shut up Al, it's not like that…"

Meanwhile, Sinon was busy looking through the various anti-tank weapons on the shelves. Most of them were World War II antiques, but they were quite capable never the less. Her eyes landed on a simple pack of C4. Then they landed on a strange looking grenade-thing.

"Hey," she called, "what exactly is this?" The man, named Al, walked over.

"Ah," he said. "That would be a rifle grenade. It attaches to the muzzle of most combat rifles and you can fire it by simply firing the rifle itself." Sinon looked at the rifle grenade like she found what she was looking for.

"I don't think it would fit on your Hecate though, Missy," Al said. Sinon's smile disappeared. Al then got up and grabbed something off the shelf. He then handed them to Sinon.

"Anti-tank grenades," he explained. "These you just need to pull the cord and throw them at the target. No attachments necessary."

"Thank you," said Sinon. "How much?" Al shook his head.

"Just take it," Al said. "It's just that…"

"… He's a fanboy," 10th butted in. Al suddenly turned around, like he was about to deck 10th. 10th, however, dodged this fist with ease and Al suddenly found an M1911 pointing at his head.

"Damn," Al said. "Beaten again." 10th just put his M1911 back in his holster. He then checked his watch.

"It's almost 6:00 am in real life," he said. "Don't you have a real shop to run Al?" Al blinked in confusion.

"… Oh shit! It's my turn today! Got to go! Bye!"

XXXXX

"Don't you have anything to do right now?" 10th asked Sinon. Sinon looked at the clock.

"Yeah, I have to leave soon," she said. "Are you?" 10th shook his head. The two walked out of the store.

"I think I'll grind a little more," he said. "I almost blew my arm off trying to use a 17pdr gun." Sinon grinned at this.

"Good luck with that." Sinon then logged off. She didn't really get much done in-game that session. At least she made a friend.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, in a secluded building somewhere in the world, a group of people gathered around a table. A man strode forward. The people around the table snapped into attention. The man gave them a salute.

"At ease," he said. "Are the preparations ready?" A man nodded.

"Yes sir," he said. "We are ready to begin." The first man smirked.

"Begin?" the man asked. "We are not here to start anything, my friend. We are here to finish our job." The man then turned around to the others.

"Gentlemen!" he announced. "Let the games begin!"

* * *

Author's notes: Hey guys! I'm not dead! Here's chapter three of SAO: the Ghost in the System. Read and review. Reviews make me want to continue.

On another note, this story will be accepting OCs of your creation. Please give me a name, age, username, gender, weapon of choice, other background information, and a method of death. Thank you, and i'll see you in the next chapter.


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